An event planner who has hosted parties for Beyonce and the Obamas shares his go-to holiday drink

Since 1999, he and his mother, Mary Lynn, and sister, Mimi, have been putting their hosting skills to good use, planning events for the most high-end of clients — people like Beyonce, Madonna, and Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton — through their event production firm, Van Wyck & Van Wyck. Earlier this year, the Van Wyck team launched a new company out of their production firm. Called Workshop, the new company focuses on producing events for brands like Coach, Mercedes-Benz, Hermes, and Range Rover.

But when it comes to the holiday season, he has a few tips that anyone can adapt for their own holiday parties.

A Dark and Stormy cocktail.
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"I like to serve a Dark and Stormy this time of year," van Wyck told Business Insider. "They can easily be made for large pitchers, and the dark rum with a healthy kick of ginger will warm you right up. With only three or four ingredients (dark rum, ginger beer, lime, a dash or two of bitters if you desire), it is a foolproof cocktail."

Van Wyck has also created a line of all-natural cocktail mixes called Arrowhead Farms. The mixes come in eight different flavors, including a seasonally appropriate Spitfire Margarita, a spicy Serrano grapefruit margarita.

And if you're not the one hosting the shindig, he has some suggestions for what to bring along with you.

"I've been whipping up Bloody Marys for friends and family for hostess gifts for as long as I can remember. Holiday parties often create holiday hangovers — your host will thank you for thinking ahead!" he said. "Pour your homemade batch into mason jars tied up with raffia or burlap and maybe a sprig or two of cedar and juniper."